App, website save search time for faithful

The website www.myfaithwalk.org is a single source for prayer, Mass Preparation, and more.

A group of Kansas City area volunteers have made it easy for the faithful to find resources for prayer and to put their faith into action.

MyFaithWalk.org and the My Faith Walk app are sources for prayer, for tools to grow spiritually, and to find opportunities to put faith into action.

Their development began three years ago when Abby Upah of Leawood, Kansas, and other volunteers in the Kansas City area decided to find the most popular and useful Catholic resources from the thousands available and consolidate them at a single web site.

As a result, those who use Faith Walk can find prayers, podcasts, reflections, readings, Mass preparation, and more – instead of using Google.

The volunteers behind the project didn't use a search engine to find the resources, they emailed friends and leaders within the community asking them what they used.

The founders of Faith Walk received hundreds of replies directing them to many different web-based sources.

"It was super overwhelming to go through all of them," she said. "But this validated what we were doing, no one was sending us the same thing. So we went through the content and found what we looked for and you know, Faith Walk kind of became what it is."

The website's mission, Upah said, is to get free, easily accessible resources into the hands of Catholics. "If they have two minutes, 10 minutes, or an hour a day. We want them to have easy access to a ton of different formation resources so that they can continue growing."

The less time they spend searching, the more time they have to pray, she said.

The initial website was built in 2016, was expanded and improved with the emailed suggestions in 2017, when the Apple and Android apps were built. The website was refreshed last year with guides such as "My Faith Walk for the Morning."

The response has been overwhelming, Upah said, adding that users appreciate the ability to use the website as a launching pad for their faith.

"It's been really good to hear from people who have said that they're using our small group resources in their small groups or they're using the Sunday Mass prep to re-engage themselves within the very center of our faith."

The website is supported by Second Wind, 2wind.org, based in Mission, Kansas, whose vision is to "revitalize, energize and transform His church." It also helps finance the regional support team for Christ Renews His Parish, which assisted in two two-day spiritual renewal retreats at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Wichita.

MISSION To enable individuals to grow in their faith, deepen their commitment to and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then be a resource for them as they share that commitment with their parishes, dioceses and the world!